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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Newark, Delaware » Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #338695
Research Project: Classical Biological Control of Insect Pests of Crops, Emphasizing Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Spotted Wing Drosophila and Tarnished Plant Bug

Location: Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit

Title: Natural enemies of the spotted lanternfly in Asia and North America

Author
item LIU, HOUPING - Department Of Natural Resources
item Hoelmer, Kim
item GOULD, JULI - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Submitted to: USDA Interagency Forum on Invasive Species
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2017
Publication Date: 11/1/2017
Citation: Liu, H., Hoelmer, K.A., Gould, J.S. 2017. Natural enemies of the spotted lanternfly in Asia and North America. USDA Interagency Forum on Invasive Species. pp. 30-32 FHTET-2017-06..

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, is a sporadic pest of Tree-of-Heaven, Ailanthus altissima. The native range of L. delicatula includes China, Taiwan and Vietnam but it invaded Korea in 2004, Japan in 2009, and the U. S. in 2014. In North America, it is now found in eastern Pennsylvania with more than 2,000 km2 under state quarantine. Host species in its native range include more than 70 woody plants and vines in 25 families, such as apple, birch, grape, cherry, lilac, maple, poplar, and stone fruits. Feeding on phloem tissue causes oozing wounds on trunks and branches, resulting in wilting or death of the branches. Nymphs and adults excrete large amounts of honeydew, attracting ants, bees, hornets and promoting the growth of sooty mold. Significant damage has been recorded in vineyards in Korea, and it is a potential threat to the grape and fruit industries in North America. Natural enemies of L. delicatula in its native range of Asia include a solitary egg parasitoid, Anastatus orientalis, and a solitary ecto-parasitoid on nymphs, Dryinus browni. In North America, a few generalist predators attack L. delicatula adults. Containment in North America has focused on mechanical/chemical host tree removal and population suppression through egg scraping, tree banding and insecticide treatments. Should the eradication efforts fail, biological control will be an important option for suppression in non-crop and natural landscapes. We carried out a study in in eastern and northern China 2016 to explore for potential biological control agents, and to survey of its natural enemies in Pennsylvania. In China, exploration surveys were carried in four provinces in spring 2016: Beijing, Hebei, Shandong, and Tianjin. Anastatus orientalis was recovered from nine of the 11 sites, with egg mass parasitism of 5.5 to 92.3%, and overall egg parasitism of 0.4 to 26.0%. A native nymphal parasitoid, Dryinus browni, was found attacking a few 2nd-3rd instar L. delicatula nymphs in Beijing and Shandong. In North America, we found adults of an egg parasitoid, Ooencyrtus kuvanae, originally introduced into the Unites States against gypsy moth, which utilized 6.8% of egg masses sampled and 19.9% of the eggs from those egg masses parasitized. An unidentified Dryinidae) was found attacking a 4th instar nymph. Both O. kuwanae and A. orientalis have the potential to be important agents for L. delicatula biological control in North America.